Autonomous driving: Self-driving cars

The dream of autonomous driving is almost a reality today: self-driving cars take you safely and stress-free to your destination. While driving, you can write emails, wish grandma a happy birthday in a video chat or prepare for the first meeting of the day. Driving assistants monitor the traffic for you, steer the vehicle along the chosen route to your destination and brake or accelerate if necessary. We at CARIFY have done the fact check for you: do self-driving cars already exist and can you really sit back and relax in them and take your eyes off the traffic?

Development of self-driving cars

It is a long way from individual assistance systems to autonomous driving, which the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) divides into five steps.

1. Unassisted driving: The driver steers, brakes and accelerates automatically. Electronic stability control and emergency brake assist are included in this stage.

2. Assisted driving: Individual assistance systems support the driver, such as distance monitoring and cruise control.

3. Semi-automated driving: Combined assistance systems ensure greater safety when driving, such as camera-based traffic sign recognition with cruise control that automatically adjusts the speed.

4. Highly automated driving: Although the car drives almost entirely on its own, for example thanks to traffic jam assistants, you must be able to intervene at any time. While your hands must remain on the wheel, you can watch a movie or read something while driving.

5. Fully automated driving: The car is allowed to drive itself on approved sections of road. It reports when a driving situation is too demanding. Then you must be able to intervene.

6. Autonomous driving: As the vehicle does not require a human driver, it does not need to have a steering wheel. You can sit in the back and take a nap while driving.

While assisted and semi-automated driving are already standard today, only a few car manufacturers offer vehicles that are fully automated or even autonomous. This is due to the complex technology, which comes at a price. In addition, current laws often stand in the way of the use of autonomous vehicles. Let's take a look "under the hood" of self-driving cars.

Technology behind self-driving cars

For cars to become intelligent technology, they must have sophisticated technology and be capable of one thing: machine learning. Individual driver assistance systems must interact with each other in order to cope with complex driving situations. To do this, they need lots of data, which they receive from a wide variety of sensors. To be able to navigate the road network, they use mapping technology and GPS to always know their own location.

Sensoren und Kameras

Traffic lights, road markings, road signs, obstacles, distances - autonomous driving would not be possible without real-time images and data. These are provided by various devices fitted at different points on the vehicle.

• LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) is used for optical distance and speed measurement by laser and for creating 3D maps of the vehicle's surroundings.

• Radar devices measure the time it takes for emitted radio waves to bounce back from an obstacle. This enables the autonomous vehicle to navigate even in poor visibility.

• Cameras with high-resolution lenses constantly deliver images that are interpreted by image recognition software and made readable for the vehicle.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning

The data provided by the sensors and cameras must be interpreted. Autonomous cars are equipped with self-learning software for this purpose. The AI learns from the images of its surroundings and existing data to react to different traffic situations. It relies on several learning techniques:

• Computer vision, which is the images and data provided by the vehicle's cameras and sensors that enable the car to "see".

• Deep learning uses neural networks that enable the vehicle to learn from large amounts of data.

• Reinforcement learning "rewards" the car if it makes the right decisions based on its environmental data. If it makes the wrong decisions, it receives a penalty and learns in this way.

Advantages and potential of self-driving cars

A moment's lapse of attention and it's already happened. Human error is to blame for 90% of all accidents. This can be prevented by assistance systems that keep you in your lane, recognize that you are about to fall asleep at the wheel or initiate emergency braking. Find out all about the advantages of self-driving cars here.

Improvement in road safety

As the level of automation increases, the number of accidents should fall significantly. If the car itself recognizes that a crash is imminent due to insufficient distance and initiates emergency braking, this reduces the number of rear-end collisions. The autonomous vehicle automatically adapts its speed to the course of the road (bends) and weather conditions. This reduces the risk of the car skidding or aquaplaning.

More efficient use of roads and resources

Cars can already communicate with each other via WLAN or mobile communications using car-to-infrastructure communication (Car2X). Connective cars exchange information about the flow of traffic and warn of traffic obstructions or hazards. Autonomous vehicles constantly recalculate the route to their destination, automatically avoid traffic jams or maintain the optimum speed for green waves. There are still only a few autonomous cars in the crowd of human-driven vehicles. This means that they cannot yet exploit their full potential. If there are only autonomous vehicles on the road, there will be fewer traffic jams and the flow of traffic will improve.

These CARIFY models are equipped with autonomous driving technology

Volkswagen, Tesla, Daimler and BMW are already well advanced in the development of autonomous vehicles. Driverless driving, however, remains a dream of the future for the time being. Discover the highly automated cars on subscription at CARIFY here!

• All VW models are equipped with Car2X communication, one of the basic requirements for autonomous driving.

• Mercedes vehicles have the Drive Pilot traffic jam pilot, which takes over driving on highways at speeds of 60 km/h and above. This raises the level of autonomy of the vehicles to level 3. In addition, artificial intelligence will soon be used in all Mercedes-Benz cars. Already possible today in the S-Class: autonomous parking.

• Highly automated driving functions are also available at BMW. The BMW i5 comes with a highway pilot that can already take over driving on German highways up to 130 km/h under human supervision.

• The Ford Mustang Mach-E relies on BlueCruise technology. The car drives automatically up to 130 km/h without you having to have your hands on the wheel. However, this function is not yet approved in many countries.

• The Hyundai Ioniq 5 E-CUV is a Robottaxi that already enables level 4, fully automated driving. At CARIFY, the vehicle impresses with its comprehensive assistance systems.

• The Kia EV6 is based on the same platform as the Hyundai - and it features similar equipment for semi-autonomous driving.

• The cameras and sensors in the 2022 Opel Astra enable a 360-degree all-round view. In addition, Continental's eHorizon technology ensures the vehicle's orientation when keeping and changing lanes.

• Tesla offers an autopilot in its vehicles that still requires the driver to keep their hands on the steering wheel.

• You can expect level 2 equipment with numerous assistance systems in Audi vehicles.

Disadvantages and concerns with self-driving cars

Many people shudder at the thought of putting their lives and the lives of many others in the "hands" of AI-controlled cars. In addition to safety issues, ethical concerns also play a role. The following arguments have so far stood in the way of widespread approval of fully automated or autonomous vehicles:

Safety concerns and liability issues

Is autonomous driving technology really safe? What if individual components fail or the software fails to interpret the data? Another factor is the real danger of hacker attacks. An autonomous vehicle could then become a remote-controlled puppet of terrorists.

Behind the safety concerns is also the question of liability: who is responsible if an autonomous vehicle causes an accident? Without a human driver, the manufacturers are responsible. This is why the vehicles are currently undergoing extensive testing before they can one day go into series production.

Ethics and decision-making algorithms

It can happen that a self-driving car is unable to avoid an accident. It then has to analyze the situation in a fraction of a second and react accordingly. But should an AI be allowed to decide who has a better chance of survival? These are precisely the arguments put forward by opponents of the new technology.

It is a question of ethics that has so far been answered by algorithms used to make decisions for autonomous vehicles. Cultural aspects play a role, such as which life is considered more worthy of protection, children, old people, the disabled. How should the vehicle decide if it only has the choice of injuring a few or many? The EU Commission addressed this issue back in 2020 and banned discrimination in any form in ethical programming. The algorithms must make the decision to distribute risks fairly, regardless of gender, age, etc.

Regulation and future prospects for self-driving cars

Autonomous driving is currently still prohibited in Switzerland. Drivers are not allowed to let go of the wheel, but this should not remain the case. If manufacturers can prove the road safety of autonomous driving, cars with automation systems will receive type approval. Then you can actually sit back, relax and enjoy the ride. Furthermore, the cantons should designate parking areas where automated parking without a driver is permitted.

Conclusion

Autonomous driving will come. It's just a question of time and technical possibilities. Then nothing will stand in the way of registration in Switzerland and other countries. Do you want to get into a car of the future today? At CARIFY you can get numerous vehicles that drive automatically at level 2 and 3. Treat yourself to the luxury of testing out driving with the help of state-of-the-art assistance systems. Thanks to our flexible terms from 1 month, you can easily try out different systems.

FAQs

Who builds self-driving cars?

Almost every car manufacturer now equips its vehicles with assistance systems and other technology that are essential for autonomous driving. VW and Tesla are leading the way.

What are the disadvantages of autonomous driving?

With autonomous driving, you hand over control to the car. In an emergency, you cannot intervene. Complex situations can cause autonomous vehicles to simply stop.

What are the arguments against self-driving cars?

There are safety concerns and ethical problems in connection with self-driving cars.